36 Hours in Santa Barbara

Start with a post-travel pick-me-up at LOKUM, a Turkish sweet shop on State Street, Santa Barbara’s main drag. Take your pistachio coffee ($6.50) to stroll down State Street, which closed to cars early in the pandemic and is now a tree-lined pedestrian and cycling avenue with parklets and buskers. Continue to the Spanish Colonial Santa Barbara County Courthouse, surrounded by sunken gardens, fountains and bunya-bunya trees. Climb to the courthouse’s clock tower for a 360-degree view of the city, including the 1786 Santa Barbara’s Mission, the so-called “Queen of the Missions.” On a clear day, you can see the 4,000-foot La Cumbre Peak and the distant Channel Islands. On your way down, dip into the gilded Mural Room, where the brutal Spanish conquest of California’s Indigenous population is depicted as an act of glory.

Is it even a trip to California if you don't come home with a caftan? Find yours at Arlington Plaza’s Folly, which is the embodiment of the Alta California good life. Delightfully cluttered, the shop sells everything from colorful enamel cups to climate-perfect linen caftans, paintings by local artists (from $36) to ephemera like a cast-iron bottle opener in the shape of a crowned frog. Two blocks south in Victoria Court, Domecíl feels like the bohemian home of the most casually tasteful Californian you know. The shop leans heavily on Santa Barbara County-based producers, but it also embraces eclectic products from abroad: traditional indigo aprons from Japan and hand-woven Chilean lampshades sit alongside hand-carved driftwood spoons by the local artist Ray Gabaldón and blue-hued mugs by the local ceramicist Laurie Stout.

Eat on the flower-draped patio of La Paloma Cafe, built on the figurative ruins of not one but two of Santa Barbara’s most beloved restaurants: a mid-century institution and the neon-lit Paradise Café, which closed, to the lament of many locals, in late 2020. La Paloma takes this lineage seriously, keeping the neon and restoring the building’s murals. The restaurant’s unmissable dish also nods to heritage: A Wagyu tri-tip with salsa, horseradish and pinquito beans ($35.95) is a gussied-up version of Santa Barbara’s regional barbecue known as Santa Maria style. For dessert, stroll one block to Tondi Gelato. The shop, named for its owner, who lived in Italy for over a decade, features both classic flavors like salted caramel and seasonal sorbetto made with fruits like guava and persimmon from the Santa Barbara Farmer’s Market. Cup or cone, from $5.

Stop at ALESSIA Patisserie and Cafe for a pastry from its rotating selection, like the ricotta-and-squash-blossom danish ($5.75), and an espresso for the road. Be on time for your 9:15 a.m. admission to Ganna Walska Lotusland (tickets, $50), where you’ll have to reserve far in advance to be one of the 15,000 people a year granted access. This magical 37-acre garden in the Montecito highlands is the work of the eclectic, many times married, Polish singer Ganna Walska who, according to myth, may or may not be buried somewhere in her sprawling property. Wander through cactus forests to immaculate Japanese gardens to lush tropical orchids, banana trees and ginger plants, an experience transportive enough to justify the high price of admission.

In a city of taquerias, Corazón Comedor stands out. The newest project of the chef Ramón Velázquez, who earned Michelin recognition for his taco stand at Santa Barbara’s Public Market, the comedor (a casual, homestyle restaurant) opened in November after a pandemic delay, and serves dishes inspired by his mom when Mr. Velázquez was growing up in Guadalajara. The airy dining room — which has a TV playing nostalgic black-and-white Mexican movies — clangs with the sounds of an open kitchen and smells of dishes like the earthy mole coloradito that tops the free chips and the rich, complex pozole (a traditional stew made with hominy and long-cooked pork broth). If you want more, Mr. Velázquez plans to open his first fine-dining restaurant, Alma Fonda Fina, in Montecito later this summer.

Bar Le Côte, with grass-green walls and ranch-inspired John Flaming prints, opened in the Santa Ynez Valley town of Los Olivos in 2021, the second restaurant by the husband-and-wife team behind the Michelin-starred casual French restaurant Bell’s in Los Alamos. The tavern’s five-course, Spanish-inspired tasting menu for two ($185) is a splurge. But in a region with some of the most jaw-droppingly expensive restaurants in the country, that feels like a relative bargain. The prix fixe might include a bite of locally harvested sea urchin, a pair of oysters and cool spiced peel-and-eat shrimp, a photogenic day-boat scallop crudo or a dry-aged branzino with leeks. A la carte is also available.

Stop into the Arlington Street location of Cajé Coffee Roasters, the elegant new cafe of the long-running shop in Isla Vista, near U.C. Santa Barbara. The cafe’s $10 signature drinks are prepared with the complexity of cocktails: a strawberry-rose matcha tea is served in a petal-coated glass, while a chocolate and toasted coconut drink has a marshmallow that is torch-charred upon serving. Sit beside the fountain in Cajé’s lush courtyard or, on a misty morning, beside the fireplace. Then, unlock a BCycle and cruise down to the 4.5-mile-long waterfront Cabrillo Bike Path, which extends all the way from Ledbetter Beach to Butterfly Beach on a protected bike lane. Look for the rainbow umbrellas of fruit vendors selling freshly prepared mango, cucumber, watermelon and more with traditional Mexican flourishes like salt, lime juice and Tajín seasoning, and plop on the sand to watch surfers and seabirds.

Santa Barbara’s downtown is built around the last presidio, or Spanish fortress, established in California. El Presidio de Santa Barbara State Historic Park preserves the five-and-a-half-acre site and has a visitor center devoted to its history. The presidio’s surviving adobe structures are incorporated into the neighborhood’s contemporary life, with historical placards posted on many buildings. For a self-guided tour, wander the area pulling up the QR codes on each to read about its history. Then, head a couple blocks north on Anacapa Street to Sullivan Goss, a private three-room gallery around the corner from the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, where pieces can cost as much as a home down payment and the collection leans heavily on evocative portrayals of the American West. Catch the current exhibition by the Santa Barbara-based artist Robin Gowan, called “Last Shadow & First Light” (through July 24), of large-format paintings of Central California’s distinctive landscapes.